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Early Word: Secret Plant

By Bernie Becker September 25, 2009 8:34 amSeptember 25, 2009 8:34 am

On the final day of the G-20 summit, President Obama and the leaders of France and Britain are set to unleash a foreign policy bombshell that could lead to even more heightened tensions in the
West’s relationship with Iran.

According to The Times’s David Sanger, the three heads of state “will accuse Iran Friday of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel, saying it has hidden the covert operation from international weapons inspectors for years.” Mr. Obama, Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy will also demand that the facility be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The three leaders are scheduled to reveal the existence of the facility in Pittsburgh this morning, before the morning plenary session of the G-20. Mr. Obama is also scheduled to attend a lunch with G-20 leaders, the afternoon plenary session and hold an afternoon news conference before heading back to Washington in early evening.

The Iranian facility is not the only piece of news expected to be announced on Friday. As The Times’s Edmund L. Andrews reports, the old G-7 — the group of industrialized, mostly Western nations — will be permanently replaced by the G-20, which includes growing economic powers like China and India, as a global forum for economic policy.

“The move highlights the growing economic importance of Asia and some Latin American countries, particularly since the United States and many European countries have found their banking systems crippled by an economic crisis originating in excesses in the American mortgage market,” Mr. Andrews writes.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama seems to have also gotten some decent news out of the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll. The president’s approval rating stands at 56 percent, “down from earlier in the year but still reasonably strong at this point compared with recent presidents,” write The Times’s Adam Nagourney and Dalia Sussman.

The public seems to be optimistic about the success of the stimulus package and trusts Mr. Obama more than Republicans on several important issues. Still, as Mr. Nagourney and Ms. Sussman also note, the president faces “declining support for his handling of the war in Afghanistan and an electorate confused and anxious about a health care overhaul.”

On a more lighthearted note, the First Couple held a dinner in Pittsburgh for world leaders and other guests on Thursday. Our own Helene Cooper, the pool reporter for the event, filed this entertaining, fashion-conscious report.

Health Care: In what The Times’s Robert Pear and Jackie Calmes termed “a big victory” for Mr. Obama, the Senate Finance Committee voted down a proposal that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to supply more than $100 billion in rebates to Medicare. All but three Democrats on the panel voted for the provision, which would have thrown a wrench into a deal agreed to by the president and the drug companies.

“Under the June agreement with the White House, drug makers pledged $80 billion over 10 years to help ‘reform our troubled health care system.’ In the belief that their contribution was capped, drug companies have run advertisements in support of a health care overhaul,” wrote Mr. Pear and Ms. Calmes. (The drug companies entered the deal because they thought Congress might mandate even more expensive requirements, the pair also wrote.)

The proposed rebates, a portion of which would have gone toward closing a gap in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage, were one of the more high-profile amendments offered as the Finance Committee slogged through a third day of mark ups.

Moving on to Friday, The Times’s David Herszenhorn reports that Senators Chuck Schumer and Jay Rockefeller, a pair of liberal Democrats, will propose adding a public insurance option to the finance panel’s health care bill on Friday, a move Mr. Herszenhorn says could incite “a potentially explosive debate with Republicans who view the idea as a step toward ‘socialized medicine.'”

A full slate of amendments are likely to be introduced on Friday as well, meaning the committee may not be able to finish its plan this week.

First Lady’s Schedule: The first lady tours the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School with musicians Yo-Yo Ma, Trisha Yearwood and other spouses of G-20 leaders, before hitting the Andy Warhol Museum in the afternoon.

Kirk: The Times’s Abby Goodnough takes a look at the soon-to-be 100th senator: Paul G. Kirk Jr., scheduled to be sworn in to replace his former boss, the late Edward M. Kennedy, on Friday.

He is not only as loyal a Kennedy soldier as they come — crucial at a time when the late senator’s dearest cause, a health care overhaul, will be the subject of a contentious vote in Congress.

Mr. Kirk, 71, is also known for keeping a low profile and treating other points of view with attentive respect. Those qualities could help heal the political rift that erupted here last month when Mr. Kennedy, days before his death, asked the legislature to let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint a temporary senator.

Mr. Kirk’s tenure is set to last into next year, as a special election to replace Mr. Kennedy is on tap for Jan. 19. Early Friday morning, before the new senator’s scheduled swearing-in, the Massachusetts G.O.P. is expected to file suit in an attempt to block the interim appointment. (Their argument: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has exceeded his authority by declaring the new succession law an emergency and thus effective immediately.)

Biden’s Day: Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. – kidding, we hope – said the following about the stimulus while on a conference call with mayors and governors: “If it fails, I’m dead.” And that wasn’t the only quotable line the vice president uttered on Thursday. At a fundraiser in Northern Virginia hosted by former Senator Chuck Robb, Mr. Biden said “some of the guys Chuck and I have campaigned for are turkeys. Not all Democrats are created equal, while most Republicans are.”

On Friday, Mr. Biden heads south to survey flood-battered Georgia.

Acorn: The Washington Post reports on some Acorn-related documents released by Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley, which show that the group’s leaders “transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money meant for the poor to arms of the group that have political and sometimes profit-making missions.” Acorn officials said the transactions Mr. Grassley cites occurred before the group shook up its leadership last year.

N.E.A. Resignation: Yosi Sergant, who had encouraged the promotion of the president’s agenda on a National Endowment for the Arts conference call last month, has resigned from the agency. Mr. Sergant had already been reassigned from his position as N.E.A. communications director.

Supreme Court: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was evaluated at a Washington hospital on Thursday after feeling lightheaded, according to a statement from the Supreme Court. A Court spokeswoman said the 76-year old justice was in “stable health.”

K Street: Politico looks into a new trend on Capitol Hill – lawmakers checking out before their terms end, then cashing in. Kenneth P. Vogel reports that former Senator Mel Martinez, who has landed at DLA Piper, is the fifth member of Congress since 2007 to resign early only to end up at a lobbying firm.

Commerce: The Commerce Department releases two economic guideposts on Friday morning – one report on durable good sales, the other on new home sales.

Nice move, burying the lead about ACORN somewhere far below “First lady tours the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School with musicians Yo-Yo Ma..” and the latest Biden gaffe.

So, for those who continue to defend ACORN, may I repeat:
recently released ACORN documents show that the group’s leaders “transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money meant for the poor to arms of the group that have political and sometimes profit-making missions.”

Perhaps more importantly, the ACORN article reports “Acorn officials said the transactions Mr. Grassley cites occurred before the group shook up its leadership last year.” So ACORN had these shady transactions before they shook up their leadership, and now the videos showing possibly criminal violations with their new leadership. And ACORN defenders are proud to say that the voter fraud committed by ACORN employees hurt ACORN. It makes me wonder about the ACORN problems that have not yet been discovered or publicized.

How is Iran’s plant now a secret that the whole world knows about it?
Why can’t Obama push the Chinese and Pakistanis to stop getting oil and gas from Iran. Unless sanctions hit Iran’s pocketbook no change can happen. Can the most powerful leader, the president of the US make this happen?

Thank God that we elected a calm intelligent President that will handle this latest Iran news in a proper and prudent manner. The team of Mc war and Moose Barbie would have used this as a pretext to launch yet another foolish and ruinous war. Only later to find that the information was overblown. Like weapons of mass destruction.

Iran and other political adversaries around the world have learned how simple it is to say whatever we want to hear, then go ahead and do whatever they want to do. Our pols trumpet the agreements as victories, and two weeks later deal with the same problem again. The naivety of Obama and crew is breathtaking. In 1987, Ollie North was chastised for putting a $60,000 security system in his house (by senator Kerry), who asked what he feared. Ollie said he’d gotten a death threat from Osama bin Laden. Kerry didn’t know who bin Laden was. Mohammed Atta of 9/11 fame was in an Israeli prison for bombing a bus, but at the insistance of Bill Clinton and Christopher Warren, was released as a part of the mideast agreement they had brokered.

It’s groundhog day forever in DC, folks. This time it’s Chavez and Amadjinadad, both of whom are no friends of the civilized world. And Goofy Gaddafi for good measure. They’ll talk to you incessantly to buy the time they need to do whatever they want to do. And we listen.

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…